College football

Colorado regents to discuss
sex-party allegations

Women claim they were raped
at recruitment events

Brian Bahr / Getty Images file

Colorado coach Gary Barnett is denying accusations that some of his players were recruited with sex parties.

updated 3:15 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2004

DENVER - University of Colorado regents will meet within 10 days to discuss claims that football recruits were offered sexual favors to enroll.

Regents Chairman Peter Steinhauer said he hadn’t set a date yet but the meeting would focus on allegations that female students were raped at off-campus sex parties held for the recruits.

Jim Martin, a lawyer and regent, said he has asked to see all depositions filed by alleged victims and others involved in the case.

“I think there is a direct parallel” to what has happened at the Air Force Academy, said Martin, referring to allegations that the culture at the elite school near Colorado Springs fostered sexual assaults.

“They both involve gender. They both involving taking advantage. It is all about money, sex and power,” he said.

Gov. Bill Owens has demanded that the university take action.

“Women are not recruiting tools,” Owens said Thursday following the disclosure of claims made by Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan in testimony for a civil rights lawsuit.

“We’ve started addressing those issues and we appreciate his thoughts on this,” Steinhauer said.

In testimony given in depositions last fall and made public this week, Keenan said the athletic department ignored her demands to halt the parties. A campus police officer, Timothy Delaria, also said one recruit told him he understood that sex was part of “what you get when you come to Colorado.”

The lawsuit was filed by former student Lisa Simpson, one of three women who allege they were raped at or following a 2001 party. Simpson, who has agreed to have her name used publicly, accuses the football program of fostering an environment in which women routinely suffer sexual harassment.

Coach Gary Barnett and other university officials have denied the accusations.

“I’ve been an educator for 33 years and much of my teaching and emphasis is about character,” Barnett said. “Neither myself nor any of my coaches have ever encouraged or condoned sex as part of the recruiting process, period.”